Alarm bells sounded over poppy-making prisoners

For the next five years, Remembrance Day poppies in Canada will be assembled by federal prisoners.

TRICO evolution, an Ottawa-based communications and marketing company, recently won the contract to construct poppies for the Royal Canadian Legion. TRICO went on to subcontract the poppy-making to the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) as part of its CORCAN program.

CORCAN is one of the CSC’s key rehabilitation programs. It provides offenders with skills training and employment while incarcerated in federal penitentiaries through on-the-job and certified vocational training. The program focuses on manufacturing, textiles, construction and services as a way of promoting inmates’ safe reintegration into society.